January 10, 2020
Eagle Herald
Dear Editor,
Life, as we know it, requires water. Water is essential for all land, sky and aquatic life. Sixty to 78% of our bodies are water, and we still need to drink it. We love water recreation too, and our tourism economy depends on it.
January 9, 2020
Eagle Herald
Dear Editor,
Merry Christmas, said the Aquila Resources radio ad. But the only thing they left us in their stocking is fool’s gold. Let’s not be the fool in their stocking. If allowed to dig the Back Forty Mine, Aquila would destroy the watershed with acid mine drainage — a byproduct of mineral extraction. Shakey Lakes — the crown jewel of Lake Township — would be one of the first casualties of the mine. This popular county park would be decimated by air, water and noise pollution. Acid mine drainage — similar to battery acid — would seep into wetlands and ruin downstream wells.
January 9, 2020
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
January 25 marks the one-year anniversary of the Brazilian mine tailings dam rupture that released almost 3 billion gallons of toxic mine waste and killed 270 people in Brazil’s deadliest-ever mining accident. After the catastrophic failure, Brazil not only banned the upstream design at issue in the disaster for future mines, but mandated that every existing mine tailings dam of that design be decommissioned. As I’ve written in an extensive background report, why would Wisconsin and Michigan residents put up with what Brazil will not? The report is online at UrbanMilwaukee.com
January 2, 2020
Eagle Herald
Dear Editor,
We all know there has never been a metallic sulfide mine that hasn’t poisoned the environment and there is no reason to think it will be any different with the proposed Back 40 Mine, less than 50 yards from the Menominee River. Their permit applications already show they intend to pollute.
by Isiah Holmes
December 18, 2019
A proposed open pit sulfide mine along the Wisconsin-Michigan border, owned by Canada-based Aquila Resources, has stirred controversy ever since the Menominee Tribe first highlighted the danger it would pose to their sacred lands over a year ago. Called the Back Forty mine, it would operate right in the heart of the Great Lakes basin.
Published by Door County Pulse, Peninsula Pulse – December 6th, 2019
The Nov. 22 letter to the editor from Nathan Conrad, “executive director,” Natural Resource Development Association, is misleading. A few months ago, this person listed himself as “communications director.” His so-called “association” is listed as having only two people as associates. This man did not tell us he lives in Canada or that he is a paid lobbyist for mining. Is that ethical not to tell us that?
PENNY MULLINS, EH news editor/digital director
December 6, 2019
Eagle Herald
MENOMINEE — Tom Boerner, who owns land in Lake Township directly adjacent to the Back Forty Mine, said Wednesday he doesn’t see the recent decision by a state review panel as changing too much in his and others fight against the gold and silver mine becoming a reality in Menominee County.
November 20, 2019
Eagle Herald
Dear Editor,
Interesting history of local mining (EagleHerald, page A7, Nov. 4). Many things have made today’s mining much worse than yesteryear’s. In the gold rush days, mining was like picking the chocolate chips out of the cookie. Notice the pickaxe and shovel on the WI flag. Today’s mining is mining the sugar out of the cookie. About 98% of today’s mine product is waste rock. The local proposed metallic sulfide mine’s waste rock reacting with air and water, becomes sulfuric acid.
By Ryan Heise, Peninsula Pulse –
At some point during the summer bustle, I had the occasion to speak with an agitated gentleman who owns a home on the waters of Green Bay in Egg Harbor. He was concerned about air cannons blasting continually on Hat Island across from his home. I envisioned him on the other side of the phone, red-eyed and disheveled from lack of sleep.
PENNY MULLINS, EH news editor/digital director
October 24, 2019
Eagle Herald
GREEN BAY — A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Coalition to Save the Menominee River against the developers of the Back Forty Mine in Menominee County, as well as several federal agencies.
